Six Years Ago While Blogging in The Clarence

FEWER THAN 100 people in Ireland posted daily six years ago so when seven of them got together in the Octagon Bar of The Clarence Hotel, it offered an opportunity to compare notes on technologies that were stable, yet evolving. I shot some sucky photos with a Bluetooth camera. To this date, that old Concord camera is the only Bluetooth-connected piece of optics I've ever owned. As I rewind back to those Clarence Hotel discussions, I wonder if the topics we discussed would interest me today. We chatted about machine links (trackback), old typewriters, Radio Userland, Irish animation (pre-Brownbag success), new phones (no cameraphones), PR companies using too much print production, product launches happening after 9PM, and quad-band Motorola phones (before Moto left Swords and Cork). Half of the people who attended the 18 Oct 03 meet-up no longer blog. I often wonder if that kind of prediction could be projected onto the audience of the 2007 Irish Blog Awards in another four years. It's not that the 2003 or 2007 Irish bloggers think blogging isn't worthwhile. It's the existence of low-impact Twitter and tearaway Facebook is simply easier to use on a phone than blogging on a laptop.

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Photo of Karlin Lillington in The Clarence Hotel, 18 October 2003.

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